Here’s the story: Eliza was reading one of our favorite children’s books, Olivia, to Jonas and me while we were in the car. In the book, Olivia sees a Jackson Pollock at an art museum. She says, “I could do that in about five minutes.” When she gets home, she gives it a try by painting all over the wall (an action that is swiftly followed by time out and a bath). Eliza got really frustrated with Olivia.

“You couldn’t do that in five minutes!” she said. “Hers doesn’t look anything like the one in the museum. His has more colors and is way more complicated!”

We then talked about the colors he used, and how the work is balanced, and how the thick drops and drizzles of paint give it texture… all of which made Eliza want to learn more about how Jackson Pollock did what he did. So we watched this video:

And she decided to make her own.

We walked to Creative Coldsnow to buy some tempura paint and I grabbed a canvas I painted over a long time ago. The canvas was some clearance Hobby Lobby generic art, which I grew out of very quickly. I like that with just one coat, you can kind of see what was underneath it. That’s kind of cool. Anyway, it’s possible that painting over art you don’t love could be cheaper than buying a new blank canvas. Maybe I’ll look for more at a thrift store.

Anyway, we grabbed our supplies, I gave Eliza a big t-shirt, and we squirted black paint into a recycled cup (which Jonas later stole: we then started using a bean can).

For the record, it took much more than five minutes.

We’re going to go to the Nelson next week so that Eliza can see the Pollock there with fresh eyes!

Eliza used the techniques Pollock used: she drizzled, flicked, and poured. She did a layer of black, a layer of gray (which we mixed), a layer of white (squired right from the bottle), then more black and gray.

The paint is on there really thick, so it will take some time to dry. I gave her black and white thinking that it would go in Jake’s and my room, but Eliza called it. I guess she’ll have to make another one for us!

Ok this is a totally awesome idea. And your idea about painting over a canvas that you’ve outgrown is one I’m going to tuck away in my brain.

http://www.thenerdnest.com/ Megan Anderson

It was really fun too! Just watching her fling the paint was fun, and I didn’t even get to do it

Clara

I love that you did this project with Elia and used it as an opportunity to tell her about an amazing artist. I’m sure she will really recognize and appreciate any Jackson Pollock painting she will encounter in her life because of this!

Clara

EliZa of course, I made a typing error!

http://www.thenerdnest.com/ Megan Anderson

That’s the hope! She’s painting a vintage suitcase (which will hold her scrapbooking supplies) next. She’s going to look through some of our Art History textbooks for inspiration first. She kills me with cuteness.

http://www.thenerdnest.com/ Megan Anderson

Update: everyone we know officially wants this painting.

Anjel

I do! I was looking through the Google results for “Jackson Pollock Inspired Painting” and when I saw the thumbnail of this painting it grabbed me right away. It’s truly beautiful, it really catches your eye and draws you in. You’ve got a very talented little lady!